The Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital Renal Genetics Clinic led by Dr Andrew Mallett (School of Medicine, The University of Queensland) and Dr Chirag Patel (Genetic Health Queensland) celebrated its 2nd anniversary in August 2015. Marking the milestone, the multidisciplinary team has expanded to deliver both a paediatric and telehealth service, becoming the first and only comprehensive renal genetics clinical service in Australasia.

Drs Mallett and Patel work with Dr Cas Simons (Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland) to undertake research genomic sequencing to discover new and novel causes of inherited kidney diseases. The promising initial findings of this project were presented at the American Society of Nephrology Kidney Week in early November 2015, showing that half of genetically unresolved families could secure a diagnosis and their diseases be studied using a “mini-kidney in a dish” system (article can be accessed HERE).

“Given that kidney diseases affect 1 in 10 Australian adults, that 10-50% of those with kidney diseases have an inheritable form and that there are more than 1,000,000 hospital admissions per year due to kidney diseases, this work will be key to improve patient outcomes.”